Monday, January 30, 2012

Sunday, January 29, 2012

This wasn’t the first time. During his repeated drunken apologies that started when I turned ten—for giving me his bad genes—he’d finally told me he couldn’t stand the idea of my turning sixteen. So he drank to deal with it. If it sounded like an excuse, that’s because it was one. He’d been drunk every night since my mom was killed. For the record, that meant he had been trashed nearly every night for over fifteen years.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

So glad to announce that Love Beyond Loyalty has released today. You can find information about it here.

This is the third book in the series and Loraine and Gabriel's story.

Gabriel Ward has no problem with the fact that he's an Outsider. Hell, he's always known he was different. What he takes issue with, is the idea that he has to follow any destiny at all. He's always taken care of himself, and there's no way he's going to start following rules now.

Loraine Peacock can speak to animals. Other than that, she thinks she's just a regular woman making her way in the world. She figures it's not that weird. Many people have unusual abilities.

But when Gabriel and Loraine are forced together by the very destiny he denies, they will both have to accept their legacy and join the Outsiders in their quest to defeat the ultimate evil. That is, if they can survive long enough to find their way to their most important destiny of all: love.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

I thought today that rather than show you six sentences from one of my published books, I would show you six from my work in progress. I am writing the third book in my YA series the Warrior. The covers for the first two published books are above. Please note, the following has not yet been through any kind of editing. So forgive me any mistakes. LOL

For December, the weather was pretty mild.Or so I was told. I’d only ever experienced one other December above ground.In Genesis, December had felt like every other month in an underground habitat—dry and damp at a steady sixty-eight degrees. Mild or not, I huddled into my jacket wondering if I was really cold or if my subconscious was trying to tell me to burrow deeper in my coat so that no one could find me.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

I've been hesitating to talk about New Years Resolutions. I didn't make any about my life outside of writing. Why? Well, because I need to lose weight. I've needed to lose it for about 10 years and at this point its gone beyond make a resolution about it kind of a thing. Its ongoing. And the other things? Be a better mom, wife, friend, etc...well, that is also things I have to think about every day and not just on January 1.

But, in terms of writing I did make some in my own mind. They basically involve just doing more writing, getting better at it, and taking more risks.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

This was the view from the house we rented in Austin. It made more sense than all of us staying in hotel rooms for eight days. Instead, the whole family stayed together in a beautiful house by Lake Austin.

Except that Lake Austin isn't much of a lake at a moment because of the draught in Austin. The amazing writer Chandra Ryan tells me that they have finally started to get some rain so hopefully the next time I go the above lake will look a lot further than that.

But, it made me think about settings. An entire story could revolve around whether or not that lake is full or not. Don't you think?

Monday, January 2, 2012

As my plane took off yesterday, the woman next to me (don't even ask me to explain the seating arrangement on the plane, 5 of us, seats of 2, yes, it doesn't work, someone had to sit alone and my kids are all too young to do that) said "Goodbye, Austin, you beautiful girl, you."

I thought this was a great way to say goodbye to Austin, TX. It really is a beautiful city. This was not my first visit there, rather my forth, but this was the longest time I've ever gotten to spend there (8 days.)

It was really fun. We rented a house with the family and really got to spend some time together. We ate good barbecue, went to parks, bowling, the children's museum, and walks around UT Austin.

I also had the pleasure of seeing my Austin and my cousin and her beautiful little boy. And, I got to meet and have coffee with the amazing romance author Chandra Ryan. She was so nice, interesting, smart, funny, incredible really.

All in all, it was a great way to end 2011 and I am really excited to see what 2012 brings both personally and in the writing-zone for me.

We said goodbye to my father-in-law this year and I will always miss him. I think when I look back at 2011, that will mostly be what I remember. But, I would really like to say 'thank you' to all of you for everything. I know I don't say it enough.